The lessons science and pharmacology teach us about
achieving optimal health, vitality and maximal lifespan with a low net carb, high saturated fat, evolutionarily paleolithic-styled diet aligned with my ancestral heritage and how I lost 50 pounds of body fat. A sorta fairy story.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Perils of Plastic: Chemicals in plastics and other products seem harmless, but mounting evidence links them to health problems -- and Washington lacks the power to protect us

TIME magazine (issue: April 12, 2010) featured a special report entitled 'The Perils of Plastic' HERE (or HERE or HERE). Below are are choice quotes I like by reporter Bryan Walsh [including my emphasis].

"Since World War II, production of industrial chemicals has risen rapidly, and the U.S. generates or imports some 42 billion POUNDS (19 billion kg) of them per day, leaving Americans awash in a sea of synthetics."

Those chemicals have a habit of finding their way out of everyday products and into the environment — and ultimately into living organisms. A recent biomonitoring survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found traces of 212 environmental chemicals in Americans — including toxic metals like arsenic and cadmium, pesticides, flame retardants and even perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel. “It’s not the environment that’s contaminated so much,” says Dr. Bruce Lanphear, director of the Cincinnati Children’s Environmental Health Center. “It’sUS.”

"As scientists get better at detecting the chemicals in our bodies, they’re discovering that even tiny quantities of toxins can have a potentially serious impact on our health – and our children’s future. Chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates – key ingredients in modern plastics – may disrupt the delicate endocrine system, leading to developmental problems. A host of modern ills that have been rising unchecked for a generation – obesity, diabetes, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder – could have chemical connections."

" Invented in 1891, BPA has been used since the 1940s to harden polycarbonate plastics and make epoxy resin, used in the lining of food and beverage containers, among other products. Polycarbonates can be identified by the recycling number 7 on the bottom of some plastics containing it. Other plastic ingredients – including potentially dangerous ones – are also indicated by the recycling number, known as the resin identification code."

"BPA does its job well, and today some 6 billion lb. (2.7 billion kg) of the chemical are produced globally each year. The problem is, BPA is also a synthetic estrogen, and plastics with BPA can break down, especially when they’re washed, heated or stressed, allowing the chemical to leach into food and water and then enter the human body. That happens to nearly all of us; the CDC has found BPA in the urine of 93% of surveyed Americans over the age of 6. If you don’t have BPA in your body, you’re not living in the modern world."

Epigenetics... "In 1998, Patricia Hunt, a geneticist at Washington State University, found that female mice dosed with BPA had serious reproductive problems, including defective eggs. More recently, she published a study showing that the offspring of mice exposed to BPA while pregnant can end up with corrupted eggs, a situation that leads to trouble for their offspring. “That’s a powerful effect,” says Hunt. “You disrupt three generations with one exposure.” "

Xenobiotics, XENOESTROGENS... "As a synthetic estrogen, BPA can mimic hormones, those powerful chemicals, like testosterone and adrenaline, that run the body. "

"Tiny amounts of hormones produce immense biological and behavioral changes, so it stands to reason that a chemical that mirrors a hormone might do the same, especially if a human being were exposed to it during critical periods of development, like the first trimester of gestation. (Children are particularly vulnerable to chemical exposure, not just because their smaller bodies are developing rapidly but also because they eat and drink more relative to their body weight than adults.) "

"That’s exactly what dozens of scientists have found in animal studies, linking fetal BPA exposure in rodents to everything from mammary cancer to male genital defects and even neurobehavioral problems. Nor is BPA the only industrial chemical in common use that may mess with the endocrine system. "

"Phthalates – a class of chemicals used to soften polyvinyl chloride plastics, found in products ranging from shower curtains to cosmetics to intravenous-fluid bags – have been shown to disrupt hormones in animals and have been linked to reduced sperm counts and other marks of feminization in male rodents. Ditto for a class of long-lived chemical fire retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), used in electronics, polyurethane foam and other plastics, though they’re being phased out. (PBDEs can remain in the body for years. BPA and phthalates are excreted within a day or so, but their ubiquity means we’re exposing ourselves anew almost daily.)"

Possibly? Any hormone disruption and dysregulation at the cellular or macro-biology level affects adrenals. Heavy metals are implicated in the formation of free T4 to rT3, which is a useless form of thyroid hormone and not selenium or iodine-dependent (unlike activation of T4 to T3).

MOOBIES: high DHT, high Estrone, high Prolactin, low vitamin D

Boys becoming physically and metabolically like girls... that's called MOOBIES, higher prolactin, higher estrogen expression, erectile dysfunction, hypogonadism, testicular failure, andropause. Pollutants are highly associated with delayed maturation in adolescents and significantly interrupted hormone pathways. (Diagram, courtesy of health-spy.com)"In 2002, the Centre for Environment and Health in Flanders, Belgium started a human biomonitoring program. For 1679 adolescents, residing in nine study areas with differing pollution pressure, hormone levels and the degree of sexual maturation were measured. Possible confounding effects of lifestyle and personal characteristics were taken into account. Participants from the nine different study areas had significantly different levels of sex hormones (total and free testosterone, oestradiol, aromatase, luteinizing hormone) and the thyroid hormone free triiodothyronine, after correction for confounders.Significantly higher hormone concentrations were measured in samples from participants residing in the area around the waste incinerators, while significantly lower values were found in participants residing in the Albert Canal zone with chemical industry."2

Xenobiotics are found in food, herbs and pharmaceuticals. These are chemical structures which our bodies need to metabolize and eliminate via our P450 enzyme systems in the liver and other tissues. Many are fat-soluble and require a healthy liver (phase 2), gallbladder and biliary system to conjugate and eliminate from the entero-hepatic cycling that occurs in our gut. Our body has evolved to conserve and 'recycle' the 'good stuff' from our skin and oral exposures like cholesterol, vitamins, steroid derivatives, endorphins, sex steroids, fatty acids and other constituents. Unfortunately, toxins get recycled too.

The best is to avoid toxins.

Phytoestrogens are plant-derived xeno-estrogens; they are everywhere but some phytoestrogens have higher biological potency. Both plants and animals utilize estrogen phylogenically. Xenoestrogens vary in their effects. Some may protect against estrogen and xenoestrogen-induced breast cancer and other cancers but the downside for men are the ubiquitious estrogenic effects including breast tissue growth and penile reducing effects.

Some bind estrogen and progesterone receptors and potently or partially enact the below or some combination:
--inhibition of estrogen receptors (block)
--activation of estrogen receptors
--inhibition of progesterone (block)
--activation of progesterone
--inhibition of androgens (block)

Estrogen is producted by men and women (in the adrenals in both genders and ovaries in women). It feminizes however our understanding of estrogen has greatly expanded to include countless brain, neural and immunity related activities. Men need some, but not a lot. Women, we need a lot comparatively and it protects against Alzheimer's, infections and looking wrinkled. Important.

Progesterone is made by both men and women (again in the adrenals of both genders and ovaries of women). Progesterone has some androgenic action for fat burning, muscle building, mood, immunity, neuroprotective (give me 'P' if I ever have a cerebral edema) and well being. Progesterone is the MAIN hormone in pregnancy. It sustains the pregnancy and allows for exponential tissue growth. At high levels, tissues and collagen relax and cortisol and insulin go up (providing even sustained glucose supplies for the fetus). Women make ~20 mg/d of 'P' but during pregnancy, fetal adrenal and maternal production increase to ~200 mg/d. Fetal adrenal glands are 10-20x that of an adult. It shrinks after birth and post-natally.

Many xeno-estrogens block progesterone and lead to anti-adrogenic actions. In women, pomegranate, like RU486, was once used in ancient Greek as an abortifacient and to induce uterine contractions.

Synthetic xeno-estrogens, unlike some of the natural, plant-derived compounds that exist in food and plants, are chemicals and therefore not recognized by our mammalian receptors for appropriate metabolism and elimination. Worse, they are stored in the fat tissues with extremely long biological half-lives. Synthetic xeno-estrogens and xeno-progestins may take weeks, months or decades to be excreted. Birth control, Provera (medroxyprogesterone), Depo-Provera, plastics, BPA, environmental pollutants are in this class.

I've had to deal with synthetic progestin toxicity for the last 2 years. There was not that much I could do but what helped the most in excreting the xenobiotic I found was the below. Whenever I gained body fat (holiday eating, stress, stopping vitamin D, etc), I found the symptoms I was having were exacerbated and acutely worsened. When I dropped body fat with exercise and yoga, then the symptoms curbed down again. Body fat for me has been the biggest factor I can vary which affected symptoms and the control symptoms.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Our big phat brain is not only our largest sexual organ but also the most vital and important organ for rapid responses, reflexes and ultimately both short-term and long-term survival. [Image courtesy of daviddarling.info]

Instantly in less than one minute, chemical messengers that are integrated from the brain and its structures -- hypothalamus and the pituitary -- as a response to environmental and internal cues elicit changes immediately in the adrenals glands.

What Do the Adrenals Control?

The adrenals produce ~50 hormones (98% cholesterol-derived): all the sex hormones and their intermediaries, adrenaline (NE, EPI), aldosterone and cortisol. We need cortisol like we need insulin. Type 1 diabetes individuals make no insulin as a result of autoimmune damage and insults at the pancreatic islet cell level; to survive insulin must be injected or I.V. basal dosing all day at low levels. Insulin is necessary to make muscles and fat but not mandatory for fuel utilization. On the other hand, cortisol is necessary to integrate all food -- carbs, proteins and fats -- as well as to burn and produce energy -- ketones, glycogen, gluconeogenesis (GNG), and fatty acids. Cortisol may be the master hormone because it may control insulin and leptin, not the other way around. And... the BRAIN controls cortisol.

Natural Cortisol Secretion Patterns

Cortisol secretion follows a circadian pattern under normal relaxed circumstances. Generally, cortisol blood levels are highest in the morning as we are getting up and ready for the day. Shifting from a comatose, restful sleep tone to an alert, reposed, wakeful tone requires all the products from the adrenal glands, as directed by the brain (pineal gland downshifts melatonin, our internal 'clock' and 'calendar for seasons', light hits past the eyelids to crank out chemical messengers from the hypothalamus and pituitary to turn us 'on' for the day).

Chronic 'spiking' may be pathologic if all the above are present or stimulus from an autoimmune or hyperplasia of growth at the hypothalamic, pituitary or adrenal cellular level (pheochromocytoma, Cushing's disease, hyperadrenocorticism).

Over time, alternatively, production can be halted, staggered or even chronically depleted.

Adrenal Insufficiency in the 21st Century

If there is one condition that may characterize neolithic living in our hyper-informed, hyperaware, super active, 'go-go-go', multi-tasking, 24/7 plugged-in age, adrenal insufficiency is IT. Btw, don't bother asking your conventionally trained physician about this condition. Currently, as far as I am aware, adrenal insufficiency just as vitamin D insufficiency and gluten/wheat-intolerance is not a part of the med school curriculum. Current M.D.s' are not trained to identify, diagnosis or treat this 'subclinical' condition unless you are about to keel over and display non-existent, undetectable serum levels of cortisol. Addison's is at the extreme end of the adrenal insufficiency 'spectrum' and is considered life-threatening, leading to complete shut down of organs if untreated. Like diabetes and celiac sprue, it's all a SPECTRUM which we may all be on... somewhere. Pre-diabetes? Silent-celiac? Show me someone who is not...

Trivia: who was a notable famous person with Addison's? [John F. Kennedy]

Signs of Low Adrenal Function

What are the signs and symptoms of poopy adrenals? The same as poopy thyroids? YES.

I've tried to look into the multivaried causes of adrenal insufficiency. They are the same as other organ and subsequent hormone failures (thyroid, kidney, coronary vasculature, brain/migraines, brain/Parkinson's, ovaries/PCOS, testicles/T-deficiency, etc) and insufficiency spectrums.

Inducing the adrenals to perform and function the way that we are meant to evolutionarily involves a multi-tiered program geared at feeding and recovering the adrenals. I am no expert but I am getting through recovering. Part of how my thyroids and adrenals pooped out can probably be traced back to childhood and even the in utero environment. Children can be born with adrenals working subpar (like many autism and spectrum children/adults). The factors for me: mother with IBS (gluten intolerance) and probably vitamin D/EPA+DHA deficiency, childhood 3rd degree burn involving majority of L-thigh (comatose for a few days), mother's death during childhood, asthma, bronchitis, infections, decades of gluten/n-6/candy toxicity, college and other stressors, finally use of synthetic birth control hormones, C-section surgery, 4 years straight not sleeping (pregnancy/lactation), our cat falling unrecoverably ill and passing away, stopping yoga and exercising less last year, caffeine dependency, progesterone-excess and extreme endocrine disruption from Mirena hormone IUD, 18-24 month lowgrade dental inflammation/abscess, and a bike accident (proverbial last straw).

One the best resources I have found is Dr. J. Wilson PhD ND's book 'Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome'. So far I agree with everything except the use of omega-6 (he advises a Tbs of sunflower oil daily) and whole grains, though he addresses gluten sensitivity. Achieving success in an evolutionary fashion would be far superior I believe and prevent further taxing of the adrenal organs. Otherwise, Dr. Wilson's recovery plan appears complete, thorough and borne out of deep 20+ years of research and experience. He covers medical data and research from 100 years ago combined with current medical publications but has written the book for the layperson. Part IV reviews the anatomy and physiology excellently and explains very well role of adrenals and the pathophysiology of damage.

The recovery program is multi-tiered:(a) Pro-active relaxation and 'programmed' laughing (seriously, LAUGH LAUGH GIGGLE)(b) SLEEP and nap(c) Address nutritional deficiencies which occurred in the course of burning out the adrenals or from incomplete diets (iodine and mineral deficiencies are in fact very common as shown in the medical literature)(d) Routine regular eating combining small amounts of carbs at each meal with plenty of fats and protein, including starting the day off w/good breakfasts; often people with low adrenals have low hunger in the morning (few in the morning however, and no fruit for most secondary to hyperglycemic effects)(e) Routine regular deep breathing: exercise, yoga, meditation, massage, stretching (more sex)(f) Avoiding as much of the above listed 'causes' because they are all adrenal depletors

Adjusting our internal cues is the key. I have observed in my hypertension and diabetes patients incredible blood pressure lowering and even glucose lowering with simple 5 minute breathing relaxation exercises in the clinic.

We indeed have extreme control of mind and therefore body. Tap into the mental inner core. (In yoga they say 'the breath is the bridge between the body and the mind')

Easy? Incredibly so. Once one is not in denial *haa!*

Part of the recovery plan, I'll be on vacation for several weeks in Beijing and Shanghai. YIPPEE! More to follow (or not *hee*).

Thank you Gentle Readers for your insights (you know who you guys are) and those sharing your adrenal stories with us at animal pharm and nephropal.